


Unworthy Flame

by SilhouetteofScribe



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 02:00:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16844896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilhouetteofScribe/pseuds/SilhouetteofScribe
Summary: Azula loses her blue flames just when a new foe threatens the security of the Fire Nation, a powerful bender named Kuvira!





	Unworthy Flame

**Prologue**

Finally away from prying eyes, Azula locked the door to her room. There she took another moment to breathe. But no matter how long she took, composure became further and further from her grasp. She gave up with a shout of fury and slammed her fist on the door. She hammered at the barricade in idle, anguished protest, shouting her hatred for the world and how wrong everything had gone. She slammed her fist again and again, ignoring the sickening crack on the sixth blow.

The crimson flash pulled her from her fury. The dark room illuminated in a dazzling display of color. The hatred went numb. Her adrenaline died and the shock gave way to an intense pain. Not from the broken bones in her hand, not from the shame of Zuko’s triumphs.

The fire was red.

**Chapter 1 - The Vision**

Azula took the final stair, ending the ascent to the bridge. Here, in the open span between two caves, she felt vulnerable. The cave entrances flanking her yawned and stretched on with endless darkness on either end. The hot winds whipped around her, sending her uneven bangs into her eyes. Despite the tropical heat, she trembled.

Like a helpless child, she waited between the pools of darkness, listening to the rumbling and feeling it quake beneath her feet rattling the marrow in the bones of her thighs. Azula had nothing to offer, no flame, no tribute, no reverence. She was alone, facing the dragons with only her defiance and fury.

The eyes shone in the dark. Azula turned to see them gleam behind her. She felt more than exposed, more than naked. She felt judged. The presence of the dragon glaring at her back crippled her. She was too frightened to fall to her knees. Instead she stood frozen in place as the growl raised in volume beyond deafening. It was a roar that became her entire existence. All she knew was the dragon and its terrible presence.

Then it was out, soaring through the sky around her. She felt the leather wings buffeting great currents of solid again against her, she saw its long fangs flicker sunlight into her eyes, she felt her every sense accosted by the dragon. With every inch of her in full panic, every cell of her makeup writhing to escape, the only thought on her mind to get out of view and run, Azula felt clear minded for the first time in days.

She stood straighter. The dragon spiraled around her and she followed it with cold eyes. Her resolve sharper than the dragon’s talons, Azula waited for it to land. And then it was resting on the stairs, eyes level with hers.

The dragon lay there, waiting. His eyes, both individually larger than the girl, bored through her soul, but Azula glared back and refused to waver. Its growl shook the foundation where she stood, but Azula remained rooted. Then she took a step towards it.

For the first time, Ran was surprised by a mortal. It raised up on the stairs.

The fire princess, far below, stared down the dragon.

“Enough of this,” Azula demanded. “I don’t have the time for you to set your mind on my resolve. I will tell you my will is iron and if you have to go about proving it, we’re only wasting each other’s time.”

The dragon said nothing.

“I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, Daughter of Ozai, Granddaughter of Azulon!” She shouted over the wind and stood like a mountain against all forces. “I am burdened with great destiny, and beseech you, dragon! Restore me to what I once was! Make me into the warrior worthy of the Fire Nation’s throne! Return to me my birthright so I may lead the empire once more!”

The dragon said nothing.

For a moment, Azula saw her mother. It was only a flash. The eyes of her disappointed mother burned in her vision, looming down on her like the moon over the city. But it was only the dragon, the ancient monstrosity with its awesome visage and horrifying aura of pure might. It watched, mouth open enough to unleash flame at the instant it needed.

Azula shouted once more. “Speak, dragon!” She shook her fist in a strained gesticulation. “If you can help me, then do your duty as the guardian of our realm! The Fire Nation is vulnerable! My brother can do little against the threats that plague our world! The Avatar is an unfit and merciful child with no resolve to do what must be done! H…”

The moment of weakness was too great to recover from. With her voice caught in her throat, her desperation clawing out of her chest to scream for help, Azula choked and gasped for air.

The dragon said nothing.

Azula braced herself on her hands and knees, fighting to breathe again. The full brunt of the dragon’s force slammed down on her, threatening to crush her on the old brick stair.

”But what happened to me?!” Azula shouted at the dragon. She felt the hot tears on her cheek against her will. “What happened to my power? What happened to the flame? What happened to my life!”

She choked on her misery and tried to go on. Then she finally managed to speak again. “W-why can’t I produce blue fire anymore?”

…if you be worthy, the dragon’s voice rang out in her mind. The flame will rekindle. But if your chakra continues to fall out of harmony, you will become unable to firebend entirely.

Azula stared up, feeling a teardrop on the end of her nose. She felt ashamed now.

The dragon extended a tendril from its face, a long whisker of leather, and reached out to Azula. It brought a tear from her eyes and held it up before her. Azula watched the colors refract in the droplet, a kaleidoscope of every color in the world. She trembled and fought another lungful of pitiful air into her body. Then the dragon’s whisker touched her on the forehead.

Azula felt cold. Azula felt alone.

She was in a cave. She had been there her whole life.

And in that darkness, she was waiting to be found.

The tendril retracted, and Azula was herself again.

She looked up to Ran, desperate for answers, wanting her blue flames back. Anything more.

But the dragon extended its great wings and before Azula could think to protest, it was gone.

Azula was alone.

**Chapter 9 - The Battle At Sozin’s Bluff**

Thunder and lightning split the sky, blinding Azula before the blow landed. She raised her hands and tried to block, but there was no way to guard against the onslaught. As the rain fell on her battered body, the projectiles found their way to her chest, her back, her face. Azula rose into the sky, propelled on nothing but the force of her attacks. There, arcing in the air, suspended among the raindrops, Azula gazed down on her attacker in a prolonged moment of fear.

Kuvira leered back, laughing confidently.

“Is that all?” she taunted. “Come on, Princess! I thought you were a powerful foe!”

Azula slammed down onto the soaked earth with a pop that sickened her out of the adrenaline of combat. Her arm was numb and wouldn’t help push her back up. She faltered there, forcing herself upright. The metalbender raised her arms in the distance.

“This is what the Fire Nation sends to defend their capitol city?” Kuvira continued. “Don’t make me laugh!”

The metal came again, just one this time. It bowled into Azula from behind and slammed her facefirst into the saturated grass. She rose and spat mud from her teeth. Azula braced herself on her good arm, then tried to force her arm back into place.

In the distance, Xin Long watched the beating with calm detachment. His blue eyes shone in the lightning. His dark scales radiated heat and shone dull despite the heavy rain. The dragon’s gaze seemed to say something to her. But it was impossible for her to decipher. And Azula didn’t have the time.

“It seems you miscalculated, Princess Azula!” the conqueror berated the fallen royal. “You know you’re no match for me. Give up! Your brother lies on his deathbed, no one will accept you as Fire Lord, and the Avatar is just a fairy tale to delude the hopeless! Concede defeat and join my empire! This is my final offer of peace!”

Azula barked out flames. She forced her shoulder back into alignment with a shriek of pain. “No! You miscalculated!” Azula wreathed herself in flames and sent a burning pillar into the heavens, turning the rain into a hot mist. “I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation! Daughter of Ozai! Granddaughter of Azulon! I am not to be disregarded!”

She sent the fires billowing at Kuvira, drowning her in a sea of orange and red. The torrent of fire poured on as Azula screamed, the hot fury bright as the lightning. Her lungs ached. Her muscles strained and biceps tore under the focused attack. But Azula pressed on. She didn’t care if Kuvira was alive or dead. She continued.

And in the center of the attack, a shape emerged. The fire diminished and dulled in color. As the red faded to orange, and the orange to a haze of a gentle heat, the metal barricade took a clear form. When it was safe, Kuvira let the metal shielding unfurl from the sphere protecting around her. She stepped out, unharmed but for a light sweat.

“Then your choice is made!” Kuvira shouted to the crowd around them. “You will get what you sought here – war… and death!” Azula gritted her teeth in impotence and attacked again, but this time couldn’t even produce the ripple of heat. “While you scratch and clutch at your vanishing power, the four nations laugh at you! You will never be a worthy leader, Azula! You are a vain, greedy and cruel girl! The people deserve better!”

The metalbender strode at her. Azula backed away. Her eyes flicked to Xin Long. The dragon’s calm gaze did nothing to reassure her. Kuvira was coming. And now the flame had left her entirely.

“The fire nation is now under the protection of the Earth Empire,” Kuvira stated as she took the last step. Her fist slammed into Azula’s chin and took her into the air.

And as the flamed had died just so recently, the world too went black.

**Chapter 27 - The Blue Flame**

Zuko stirred in his sleep, the rest he needed breaking with the interference from the outside world. He moaned and raised his arm in a fit. Azula’s focus switched to her brother. “Zuzu!”

The metal slammed into her the moment her guard was down. She bowled forward, and tried to regain her footing, then parried the next attack with her gauntlets.

“Where are you looking?” Kuvira asked. She retreated a pace and raised her hands up, puppeteering her projectiles throughout the chambers. Azula rushed to her brother’s defense and kicked away an orb that had got too close. “You know you can’t save him, Azula! He’s been sleeping for weeks now!

Azula charged at Kuvira, watching the confident metalbender take a moment to lecture her. She ran in a straight line, keeping herself between Kuvira and Zuko.

“This is a coup, Princess! You can’t stop it! The revolution will build and rip the old world apart! You know the time of the Fire Nation is at an end. Let me finish this!”

Then the throwing knife was in her hand and loosed. Kuvira stopped before finishing her next point and raised her hand to capture it. The blade sailed on. Kuvira had enough time to widen her eyes before the knife sank into her wrist.

Azula smiled.

Kuvira dug the throwing knife out of her hand and slammed it onto the floor. She glared at Azula. “Platinum?” Azula only smiled in reply. “You bitch.”

Azula brought out two more weapons. Fans. Both platinum. She took a low stance.

“Stay away from my brother,” Azula commanded.

The dragon watched at the far end of the room, his dull scales radiating heat. His calm gaze never left Azula. He breathed slow, exhaling out a haze of rippling heat. Azula looked to him for a moment, then ran at Kuvira.

Kuvira summoned her armor back to protect her just in time. She beat back the first fan, but took the second blow on her back. Azula felt out her defenses, overwhelming the earth kingdom dictator with a series of gentle attacks. She was a cunning adversary, knowing where to focus her defense and where to rely on her armor. But the Kyoshi warrior’s training had given Azula the advantage she needed. Azula’s flurry rained down, controlling Kuvira’s attention and pinning her arms in a low defense. When Azula spun for the kick, it was precisely timed. Kuvira would be unable to block.

The armor slid up into a faceplate. Kuvira took the blow and staggered back. She pelted bits of her grieves at Azula and tried to recover. Azula stepped away and closed the fans. She pointed one at the ceiling, and the other at Kuvira, prepared for the next attack.

Kuvira glared at her from a slit in the dented faceplate.

“You think you’ve proven yourself the worthy successor.” She focused and the faceplate smoothed into a flat surface again. “Do you really think your brother will awaken to see you having saved his life? That you’ll be true heir to the throne?”

Azula shut her out. She charged in again, hurling three platinum blades before leaping into the air for another onslaught.

Kuvira remained calm. She dropped back and stayed out of harm’s way, stepping around the room. Azula followed her, tracing the steps of Suki’s kata. “There has never been a Fire Lord who can’t produce flame. Even your moribund brother is a more worthy heir than you! You’re a disgrace, Azula. You know the best solution for the world is for you and him to just step aside and let your deaths bring in the new era.”

Azula brought both fans down as one. Kuvira summoned all of her strength and punched through the attack with a widened gauntlet. The fans flew into the air and clattered to the floor. Then her retaliation began. Kuvira attacked from ahead and behind. For every step back Azula attempted, an orb drove her back into Kuvira’s fists.

“You know he didn’t even like you?” Kuvira asked. “When he came to beg for peace, he mentioned his nuisance of a sister. He thought you were a monster before, and now what would he think? You’re a joke, Princess. You’re no hero. You’re no leader. You don’t belong standing in my way!”

Kuvira’s orb gathered all of her armor into one attack and slammed into the center of Azula’s gut. She froze and tried to rally, but was overwhelmed. Azula took in as much air as she could, and then coughed it back out. She stumbled to retreat, but could only collapse. Her vision blurred. Azula cried. And once that seal broke, she wasn’t crying from the pain. Now it all came at her.

She cried in frustration, she cried in disgust. Azula cried for how much she hated herself. She cried for Ty Lee and Mai. She cried for father and brother. She cried for the foolish hope she tried to hold onto. She cried for her lack of power.

In the far corner, Xin Long wept too.

Kuvira paced cooly around her. She stood at Azula’s back patiently.

Azula gathered herself and went to stand. She turned to gaze at the conqueror.

“Better?” Kuvira asked.

Azula pulled out a kusarigama.

“Good,” Kuvira said.

Kuvira took two steps back, then screamed. Her armor split. It hung suspended around her as she took another labored step. Her eyes went red. Her skin bruised and her lips went purple. Then dust began to form in the air around her body. The bloodstained iron gathered and added to the swarm of shrapnel between her and Azula. Kuvira collapsed against the wall and held up her arm.

“This is what sacrifice means,” Kuvira declared. “This is what a leader needs to be able to do. This is what separates you and I, Azula.”

Azula dropped the weapon. She looked up at the hundreds of blades in the air. She ran the fabric of her sleeve over her tears and gritted her teeth. It would be impossible to stop even half of them.

“I will murder you and your brother and drag the world back into harmony,” Kuvira continued. “…or I will die trying.”

Then she clenched her fist.

Azula threw out her hand. “NO!!!”

The heat was intense. She had forgotten the feeling. Blue flames blossomed like bellflowers in the bedroom. Azula sent out the cascade of fire longer, taking in the memory of the flames. Then she smiled.

Azula hesitated for a moment as she blasted out the flames. She glanced over her shoulder. The room, save for the three of them, was empty. Xin Long was gone.

She stopped the flames. Kuvira glared at her in hate and surprise. The princess stepped to take her place at her brother’s side. She grasped at the air, forming two daggers of intense blue fire.

“Stay … away… from my brother,” Azula repeated.

The metal dropped to the floor. Kuvira slumped against the wall.

**Epilogue**

They stepped forward, unaware of which was leaning on each other for strength more. But after one hobbled advance, then another, and a next, the siblings made their way onward. It would take time, but together, they would reach the stand. Azula leaned on Zuko, he leaned on her.

"Mei says you trekked the entire world so you could be strong enough to protect me," Zuko said in between steps.

"A lie," Azula sniffed. "I visited Kyoshi Island on an errand for uncle and was given unsolicited advice."

They took another few steps forward. "Thank you." He was faltering, so Azula helped Zuko stand taller. "I owe you my life, Azula."

Azula couldn't reply. It was a few uncomfortable moments of silence before they made it to the altar and were in reach of the crown. Azula bowed to her brother and stepped back. She looked to him with pride. The fire sage held the crown high above Zuko's head. Azula stood tall, representing her nation with all of the strength she could muster. She heard the crowd's reaction before she was aware of what happened. She fell backward, her leg sliding out from beneath her. She flailed her arms without strength and plummeted down. For a moment she feared she was too close to the edge of the platform. If she stumbled too far, she could even fall to her death. She didn't even have time to scream.

Then she was seated. Instead of falling from the dais, she was in a rough stone chair. She looked to the odd furniture under her and lifted her arms to inspect the strange pillow shaped growths under her arm. She looked to her brother, and met an expression that she was sure mirrored her own stupefied shock. And then the thing shot back and she was reclining. Her feet lifted up and her head thudded against the pumice below her head.

She rose in fury and strode for her brother, shouting in short and incomplete barks of incomprehension. "Sorry! So so sorry!" the voice in the crowd called out above the noise.

With a stomp of the waterbender's feet, the chair crumbled back into the earth. "Lemme just put that back! One second!" He brushed back the warrior's wolf tail and adjusted his collar. "Which one of you is the fire lord?" the water tribe boy said with a smile that instantly gave rise to a deep fury in Azula's chest. "Because we gotta talk!"

Zuko looked to the avatar, his mouth wide enough for a sky bison to land inside. Then he dropped the crown.


End file.
